Why a Banana is Worth $120K
What’s special about Comedian?
The banana’s name is Comedian. Don’t think of Comedian as a banana. Think about it as a comedian at a Sunday open mic. Every joke is about wealth inequality. And we’re all a part of it.
Cattelan knew the buyers would buy. He knew the world would laugh. We asked, “Why would they spend six-figures on a banana?!” We should’ve asked, “How has humanity reached a place where they can?”
That’s the punchline.
“I tend to flee tragedies – usually via the emergency exit.” – Maurizio Cattelan
What are the signs?
It’s in the title.
Comedians are social commentators, turning disturbing realities into jokes and helping us face the truth with a laugh.
Only a banana was fit for the job.
We’ve all bought one – For a joke to be funny, the audience needs to “get it.” Comedian is funny because bananas are cheap, and everyone knows it. We can all imagine some guy spending six-figures on a fruit we bought for ten cents.
They’re not deep – Bananas don’t require thinking. If this were a durian (a seasonal fruit in South Asia), we’d overthink. We’d google the history of South Asia. With a banana, we think “It’s cheap fruit,” which is the point.
They’re funny – They have a cultural connection with “slipping on a banana peel” jokes. When we look at it we subconsciously make that connection. Put another way, “Bananas are funny.. durians are not.”
He’s told this joke before.
Cattelan has a track record of merging social commentary and laughs. In 2016, he made a functioning 18-karat solid gold toilet and named it America. Is it a joke? Yes and no. America is a comical jab at mass, and unnecessary, consumerism – similar themes to wealth inequality.
He’s not the first.
Comedian contains elements from the Dada and Fluxus movements to make it funny, serious, and interactive.
What’s Dada?
Purpose – Dada is a joke with a message – much like a six-figure banana. Frustrated with the events of WWI, “Dadaists” said we had too much faith in institutions, we’re powerless to the volatility of life and our existence is a cosmic joke. They made art to laugh at and tear down art’s status quo.
Style – Anything. Nothing was off-limits. Dadaists performed, danced, and popularized the “Ready-Made” – an object taken from everyday life and converted into art, like a banana.
Example – Fountain. In 1917, The King of Dada, Marcel Duchamp, changed art forever when he bought a urinal and submitted it to the Society of Independent Artists’ first exhibition in New York as a joke meant to disrupt the status quo. He baffled the art community. Like us, they asked “Is this a joke?”
Fountain by Marcel Duchamp – Image Courtesy of : Mydhili Bayyapunedi / CC BY-SA 2.0
What’s Fluxus?
Purpose – Fluxus was the 60s offspring of Dada. They did disruptive performances that made us stop and think about the world.
Style – Similar to Dada, their style had no restrictions. They set things on fire, played with guns, and took off their clothes. Like Comedian, their performances forced audience participation. Whatever took place told us about the world.
Example – Cut Piece. In 1964, Yoko Ono put on a suit, sat silently on a stage, and invited an audience to cut up her clothes. At first the crowd was timid, but with each cut they grew bolder. They destroyed her suit, displayed her undergarments, and revealed a disturbing reality about humanity.
Cut Piece 1965 Reenactment by Yoko Ono – Video Courtsey of Vabethany
But is a banana worth $120K?
An object is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it. So why was a person willing to buy a six-figure piece of fruit – because Maurizio Cattelan is a big deal.
His brand is huge – An artist is a brand. And big brands carry big price tags. Maurizio Cattelan’s a world-renowned brand amongst art admirers. He’s been in every top museum, The Tate, The MoMA, and The Guggenheim to name a few.
He’s expensive. – Cattelan’s had pieces sell for over $1M at auction…. 26 times. The highest being Him, a wax sculpture of Hitler that sold for $17,189,000, in 2016 – which makes the $120K banana seem like a steal.
Him by Maurizio Cattelan – Image Courtesy of : Fred Romero / CC BY 2.0
Is it a joke? Yes and no.
Cattelan made the world laugh. He introduced us to people who would spend six-figures on fruit when they could feed a child for $6 a month. Maurizio Cattelan is a prankster with a message, the joke that’s “funny because it’s true,” art’s Borat. He knows we can’t swallow the truth without a laugh to wash it down. I think he’s right.
As I can,
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